Nowhere Boy

    Nowhere Boy
    2009

    Synopsis

    The drama tells the story of John Lennon's teenage years in Liverpool and the start of his journey to becoming a successful musician. The story also examines the impact on his early life and personality of the two dominant females in his childhood.

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    Cast

    • Aaron Taylor-JohnsonJohn Lennon
    • Anne-Marie DuffJulia Lennon
    • Kristin Scott ThomasMimi Smith
    • David ThrelfallGeorge Toogood Smith
    • David MorrisseyBobby Dykins
    • Thomas Brodie-SangsterPaul McCartney
    • Josh BoltPete Shotton
    • Ophelia LovibondMaria Kennedy
    • Andrew BuchanMichael Fishwick
    • James JohnsonStan Parkes

    Recommendations

    • 91

      Entertainment Weekly

      By the end of Nowhere Boy, you'll feel you know John Lennon better than you ever did.
    • 75

      Movieline

      Although this is a film about the influential women in Lennon's life, it succeeds equally in its evocation of the family Lennon built among his boyhood mates.
    • 75

      Rolling Stone

      Johnson doesn't resemble, much less embody, Lennon, but he does catch his distinctive glint of mischief tinged with pain. Duff and Scott Thomas are both exceptional, revealing how John's relationship with these two clashing sisters marked his character.
    • 70

      Boxoffice Magazine

      Like Todd Haynes' "I'm Not There"-which never once came out and said the name "Bob Dylan"-Nowhere Boy bites its tongue and refuses to say "The Beatles."
    • 67

      The A.V. Club

      It's a tender, but sometimes untended, portrait of the artist as a young man-and occasionally as a young asshole-that's handsome, dutiful, and finally, a little dull.
    • 60

      Empire

      Anchored by a strong central turn, Nowhere Boy crafts entertaining, small-scale drama out of Lennon's huge-sized legend. It just lacks the spark and ambition of its subject.
    • 60

      Time Out

      If only the script had been content to stick with its let's-start-a-band verve. Like many a musical biopic, Nowhere Boy wants to explain away the man (as if a song like "In My Life" weren't explanation enough).
    • 50

      The Hollywood Reporter

      Strong performances by Kristin Scott Thomas as the stern Aunt Mimi, who raised the future Beatle from the age of 5, and Anne-Marie Duff as his troubled mother heighten the dramatic appeal of what otherwise is quite a dull film.

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